FREE NEWSLETTER
THIS IS MY FIRST article for HumbleDollar. I’m new to the site, but not new to writing for the public and, indeed, I’ve contributed regular columns to some small newspapers.
My life has had more twists and turns than going down a Kentucky country back road filled with hillbillies, of which I am one. Kentucky is either the poorest state in the country or next to it by any measure you want to look at. Still, at age 65, I feel like I’ve had a rich life and done it all.
I’m a husband and father of five. I’ve also had chronic health issues for 30 years. We’ve had family members struggle with depression. We suffered through relatively low-paying jobs with multiple employers that either had massive cutbacks, spinoffs or straight up went bankrupt.
Yet our family has survived and at times thrived. I was never unemployed and sometimes held up to three jobs at once. But I sure had a lot of jobs I didn’t like. Still, it all paid off.
In fact, I retired at 59, and my wife and I are financially secure. Three of our children became civil engineers, one a mechanical engineer and another an elementary school teacher. All graduated college with no student loans and some with substantial bank accounts. The youngest graduated this May. They still have their problems, but at least money hasn’t been one of them.
How did this happen? It’s not hard for me to pinpoint the biggest reason.
The life experiences of my parents resulted in who we became. My mother was raised by a farmer and grain mill worker during the Great Depression. She was one of 11 kids. My maternal grandfather was in the army in World War I and served in France. He lost a hand in a mill accident and later his wife when she was age 47. They had four sons in World War II at the same time. My grandfather did more with one hand than most people do with two.
My father was one of six children. Dad served in World War II and had a brother-in-law who was captured at the Battle of Kasserine Pass in North Africa. That uncle became a prisoner of war for about 24 months. My dad’s brother was the mortar platoon leader at Pork Chop Hill, which was overrun during the Korean War.
Dad opened his own business after the war selling radios, televisions and furniture. He was a heck of a salesman. My mom raised us kids and ran a small business out of the house as a seamstress making clothes and doing alterations. They were both workaholics because they had to be for their growing family.
As a child, I learned pretty quickly that, if you thought life was unfair or you were overworked, you better not complain to our parents. They were too busy to listen and, in any case, they weren’t having any of it.
One thing they did for us: get us jobs at an early age. I’m proud to say that I was the youngest one put out on his own. This is what defined me and set me up for the rest of my life. I had a paper route at age 10.
Those newspapers were delivered seven days a week, 365 days a year through rain, sleet and snow. I had to collect the bill from the customers and then make my way to the post office to get a postal money order, so I could pay the newspaper each Saturday.
I had a flat tire and learned my first lesson shortly after I began my “employment” as a paperboy. The inner tube was shot. I went down to the local hardware store and bought a replacement. Afterwards, I went to my father’s store and stuck out my hand, telling him the situation and expecting reimbursement. My dad hemmed and hawed, mumbling something about how I had a job now, but eventually he gave me the money.
I was clueless as to what had just happened until my older brother filled me in. He said, “Kenny, you work now, so you can’t ask Daddy for anything anymore. You have to pay for it yourself.” I had committed a breach of etiquette, but accepted this news because my older brother was my idol. He was just looking out for me by telling me my mistake. My second lesson: Don’t be offended when good people tell you what you’re doing wrong.
I never asked Daddy or Momma for anything again, and I learned that I needed to be independent. Yes, I was on my own.
Those papers were delivered to the poorest section of town and to the housing projects. The third lesson from the paper route: While money won’t buy you happiness, the lack of money certainly buys you misery. You don’t want to end up like some of my then customers. They call it work because it can be unpleasant, but I learned from my customers that there were other things there were even more unpleasant than work.
There are lots of stories from that paper route to the present day, with lots of success and maybe even more failures. I hope to relate them all on this website. I sure would like to help somebody the way my brother helped me so many years ago.
Ken Begley has worked for the IRS and as an accountant, a college director of student financial aid and a newspaper columnist, and he also spent 42 years on active and reserve service with the U.S. Navy and Army. Now retired, Ken likes to spend his time with his family, especially his grandchildren, and as a volunteer with Kentucky’s Marion County Veterans Honor Guard performing last rites at military funerals, including more than 350 during the past three years.
Want to receive our weekly newsletter? Sign up now. How about our daily alert about the site's latest posts? Join the list.
Welcome to HD Ken.
Great article and an enjoyable read.
I would go with my father’s place of business on Saturdays and sweep floors and empty trash.
At age 11, I was expected to show up every day after school and do the same. Wage was 50 cents on hour.
This set the foundation for work ethic in me.
Thank you Dad.
I sense that you think the poor do not like to work. There are many reasons we have poor in America, and it seems like it it built into our culture. The super rich need the poor to make it work. Many who make minimum wage fall under the poverty line, while keeping wages low contributes to the business profits and wealth of the 1% and business owners.
Some reasons for poverty:
Poverty Rankings
Children – 15%
Ken – thank you for the great article. It brought back memories of the unspoken “code of etiquette” around asking for $ from my dad (don’t) after getting my paper route at age 11. Your reflections on the lessons learned while being a paperboy brought to mind a great opinion piece by Bob Greene in the WSJ a few weeks ago – the article was a tribute to paper carriers – the WSJ reader comments and reflections, like the article, were pure gold.
Loved your article. I, too, was told after eighth grade that I needed to get a job. Best thing that ever happened.
It is true that so many of our basic lessons – about things like work, responsibility, initiative and ethics – are learned as kids, and they continue to serve us well throughout our lives.
great article, thanks for sharing your story, looking forward to reading more of your articles in the future.
you have quite a bio for a hillbilly. glad to have your perspective added to the conversation.
If money isn’t buying you happiness, you’re not spending it right.
maybe that is what’s happening to me. I’m not spending it at all. I’ll try to keep that in mind. thanks.
Your excellent article was the first thing I’ve read this morning . I am looking forward to reading more of them .
A great American story. Kudos to your parents (and your brother) for the strength of their example and to you for absorbing their lessons and, apparently, imparting them to your own children.
“I sure would like to help somebody the way my brother helped me so many years ago.”
You will. A powerful story told honestly and humbly — that’s what inspires. You just told the story. I can’t wait to hear the rest.
Ken, thank you for your story. My story is much like yours. Worked at 10 years old cleaning a Sunoco gas station for $1.00/ hour..had the pleasure of delivering news papers too….Your old school upbringing was invaluable..you just didn’t know it at the time..
Lovely debut, Ken. Thanks for your contribution.
Thanks Ken for the words of wisdom. A lot has changed since our parent’s brought us here, but we still appreciate the tools they provided while growing up years ago. Let this be the first of many great articles from you.
Ken, thanks for your article. Many valuable lessons there and a good read.
I look forward to your future contributions.
Ken,
Great First Article! I’m looking forward to more!!
From Illinois here. More corrupt but somewhat wealthier than Kentucky.
You folks do have Bardstown and great Bourbon.
I have a pretty much similar life experience to yours. so it was a very interesting read.
Ken, good article. I had a similar childhood growing up in Southwest Virginia. Both my parents worked and we were a blue collar family. My 2 sisters and I were latch key children before that term was known. We became self sufficient at an early age. My parents were good providers even though they had limited income. We always had decent clothes, food on the table and took a vacation every summer. I appreciate all my parents did. They never pushed me into work but I knew that if I wanted more money than my small weekly allowance, I would have to work for it.
My first job was selling concessions at minor league baseball games at age 10. Throughout childhood I always had jobs: mowing lawns, shoveling snow, delivering newspapers, umpiring softball games. Of course, I also had chores at home that were never paid, except for my room and board. I never realized at that time that I was developing a work ethic that would last a lifetime.
Somewhat reliving my life. When you start from ground zero financially rather than coming from money, you have a very different mindset with regard to money. I see many in my Florida community that come from wealth and are so different from me and others who really had to work early and struggle to be financially SOUND. Those that come from wealth have a totally different mindset
“ Those that come from wealth have a totally different mindset”—and what would you say is that mindset? some examples…
Look at the Trump family. They started on 3rd base but think they hit a triple. They expect to be treated differently and have no idea how the real world works. Trump himself said he had no idea how to pay for food in a supermarket.
Ken: Your childhood resonates with me, mine was very similar. Parents raised during the Great Depression and going to WWII definitely provided strong morals and guidance for their children. I can still hear my parents say to me when I had a complaint, “No one said that life was suppose to be easy.” The best 10 words that stayed with me throughout my lifetime. Looking forward to your many fine articles on HD.
Gee Ken, but things are different now, it’s harder now, we are victims, we have no opportunities, we never get our fair share. Everything is unequal.
I am not serious and I greatly appreciate your story proving that things are hardly worse today than during the last two generations.
You have clearly demonstrated what is possible, how overcoming adversity and never giving up have their rewards.
What happened to us?
Your question “What happened to us?” reminded me of an article in The Wall Street Journal by Phil Gramm and John Early on November 3, 2019. It is a very thought-provoking article (http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-truth-about-income-inequality-11572813786?mod=article_inline). Here is a paragraph which particularly addresses your question and helps explain the low labor participation rate that is hurting our country today:
“Antipoverty spending in the past 50 years has not only raised most of the households in the bottom quintile of earners into the middle class, but has also induced many low-income earners to stop working. In 1967, when funding for the War on Poverty started to flow, almost 70% of prime working-age adults in bottom-quintile households were employed. Over the next 50 years, that share fell to 36%. The second quintile, which historically had the highest labor-force participation rate among prime work-age adults, saw its labor-force participation rate fall from 90% to 85%, while the top three income quintiles all increased their work effort.”
I am not attacking programs to help the poor, but wish such programs took into account human nature and unintended consequences.
There are many reasons this occurred. One major reason is that the working poor could not afford health care for their families. They only way to get it was to be on welfare.
I am perplexed with the perception that our youth or disadvantaged folk think the world is unfair or biased against them. Where did that notion come from? My experiences tell a different story. I see people working two and three jobs to get ahead. I see teenagers working and contributing their time to worthy causes. To me the world is as it always was, those with ambition and guidance will find their way, those that are lost just need a little encouragement, support, and opportunity to find their way. The desire to succeed and be productive is human nature. Those of us who have been successful have the means and resources to help those who have not. It is worthwhile and very satisfying to give back and help others who are struggling to succeed.
Ken, great story and welcome to HD. I had a conversation the other day with a neighbor about the value of those first jobs. Mine was also a paper route, and there were many others after that. I look forward to more of you stories. And thank you for your service.
There are no more paper routes; lawn care, snow shoveling, and house cleaning are businesses; and permits/licenses are needed for lemonade stands. Where/how does a kid work today – Internet Influencer?
Mine was cleaning parakeet cages and fish tanks in a pet shop for $5 a week. Circa 1955
I look forward to reading more from you.
Ken, thanks for a nice positive story to start my day.
Ken – great story. Thank you and all our humble dollar veterans for your service